How did you get into Amateur Radio?

What use is an F-call? In my day-to-day environment I meet lots of different people. Many of them are not Amateurs. In fact, most of them are not Amateurs. That's not to say that I cannot see that some of those people could be, and some have Amateur written all over their forehead without ever realising it. Now it's not for me to tell you to go out and convert people to Amateurs, that's your job - Hi Hi. What I'd like to look at is, "What is it that brought you into Amateur Radio?" I've said in the past that for me it came as a surprise. I knew two people, one of whom was a "known Amateur" the other not. I'd never talked about Amateur Radio with either of them. The person who is the "known Amateur" has had their license for many years, as long as I've known them, 20-odd years, likely longer, I've never gotten around to asking. The other "secret Amateur" was the one who is responsible for me becoming aware of this hobby. It all started pretty innocently, here's a WiFi Quad-Copter, with an Amateur Radio license we might be able to extend its range to something useful. It went in a whirlwind from there. Since I became an Amateur, I've been fascinated with how people became involved in Amateur Radio. For some of those, the incentive was lost in the history of time. For others it's fresh as the ink on their license. One Amateur I spoke with talked about how Amateur Radio was their opportunity to first step in a very challenging and rewarding hobby. Bounce signals off the moon, talk to people of all ethnicities, social positions, religions, colours, creeds etc. Join a group of earth people that have few boundaries. They wistfully added, "Maybe this is just one of the seeds of the 'world race'." Your reason for joining Amateur Radio likely looks nothing like any of the ideas or reasons I've just mentioned, perhaps you have a distinct first memory. Perhaps you might consider how you got the Amateur Radio Bug and how that might relate to the people around you. Perhaps you'll find new Amateurs in unexpected places, or find old friends where you never looked before. I'm Onno, VK6FLAB